


A Light in the Dark

by sidewinder



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Power Outage, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 01:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16398911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidewinder/pseuds/sidewinder
Summary: A power outage on Babylon 5 has Vir rather spooked...





	A Light in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



_*knock knock knock*_

Vir jumped at the soft knocking sound, almost toppling over the goddess statue perched precariously on his very full desk. Had he actually heard the sound, or had he imagined it? With his heart pounding double-time in his chest, he wondered if anxiety was getting the best of him.

He’d been trying—and failing to a miserable degree—to concentrate on a new novel on his tablet. It was the latest release by his favorite author back home on Centauri Prime and it should have provided an easy distraction for him on this evening. But the pale glow of the station’s emergency lighting system and extreme silence all around had him too unnerved.

Silence. Until the knocking…if that had been real. After all, who _knocked_ on doors on Babylon 5?

Oh. The power outage, of course. The entire station save the critical engineering department and C&C was on emergency power only. That meant no door chimes, no intercoms to check on visitors’ identities. Vir shouldn’t even be using his tablet, draining down the battery when he might need it later for more important matters. But Mister Garibaldi had promised that the outage was only a minor glitch. It should be resolved no more than two hours, or so.

Or so. But what if it lasted far longer than that? Vir worried. What if it was something much more serious than a hardware “glitch” and no one was saying anything for fear of a station-wide panic, or—

_*knock knock knock*_

There it was, that knocking again. Definitely real. Vir considered ignoring it, hoping whomever it was would go away. After all Londo wasn’t here; he was on homeworld dealing with family affairs for several days. There should be no one interested in bothering _him_ right now, at least Vir hoped not. He hated to be put in the hot seat and having to handle any diplomatic matters when Londo wasn’t here.

_*knock knock knock*_

“W-who is it?” he finally blurted out, stifling his urge to instead scream _“Go away!”_

 _“It is Lennier,”_ came a muffled reply. Vir immediately relaxed, at least a little bit. Lennier was generally all right. Not anywhere as scary as his boss, Delenn. _“May I come in?”_

“Uh…hold on.” It took Vir a moment to figure out how, precisely, to open the door to his cabin on manual. Lennier stood before him looking calm and serene, as usual, his figure illuminated by a softly glowing crystal cupped in his hands. Lennier smiled and inclined his head in greeting. “Ambassador Delenn asked me to check in on the other ambassadors and assistants, to make sure everyone was all right. I have…already been dismissed by G’Kar who accused the Centauri of likely causing the outage. I was unable to see Kosh but was assured the Vorlons have their own power system to maintain their encounter suits. The Drazi told me something I choose not to repeat, and now I am here, to check on you.”

“Oh! Well, as you can see, I’m fine. We’re fine. Londo’s away and I’m just…fine, really. Thank you, though.”

“Very good.” Lennier began to turn away, but paused and then added, “As you are alone, would you care for some company until the outage has passed? I understand that many species find darkness such as this uncomfortable, particularly on one’s own.”

“And you don’t?”

“Minbari spend considerable time in isolation, and even in conditions of extended sensory deprivation as part of developing our meditative skills, and understanding of ourselves and the universe. I find it can be quite…peaceful.”

“I suppose. Um. Well. I was reading a book, but if you’d like to come in…sure.”

“What kind of a book?”

“Oh, just a silly novel. A romance,” Vir admitted with some bit of embarrassment. If Londo were here he would mock Vir mercilessly for reading such “ridiculous nonsense”. But Lennier seemed curious instead as he sat down on the sofa, placing his bright crystal down before him. It changed now to a warmer, reddish glow, similar to a campfire. “It’s about a powerful Centauri politician who falls in love with one of his slave girls. He plans to buy her freedom and make her one of his wives, but his first wife learns of his plans and grows jealous. So she hatches a plot to frame the girl for the murder of one of the politician’s adversaries and, well…that’s about as far as I’ve gotten.”

“Sounds quite intriguing. I am not particularly familiar with the common tropes of Centauri literature. Is this a frequent theme?”

“I suppose. Though I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘literature’ so much as an ‘airport novel’. That’s…at least what humans call these books, or so I’m told. I’m not sure why.”

“Curious. Would you care to read some of it to me?”

“All right.”

It felt a little strange, at first, reading the story aloud to an audience. But then again Vir often had to read reports and news briefs to Londo while the ambassador was busy attending to other matters, and Lennier was a far more attentive audience than Londo ever was.

*

Vir made it through two and a half chapters before, in a sudden _whoosh_ and burst of brightness, the power came back to life around them. It did at least add a dramatic flourish to his narration, as the evil first wife was about to be caught in the middle of her plans.

“Ah! What a relief!” Vir said, exhaling with relief. “Well, I suppose you can go back to your own quarters now and let Delenn know everything is fine, once again.”

“Yes, I could. Though I’m also curious to hear what happens next in the story, before I go.”

“I could finish this chapter and then, if you like, we could pick up again tomorrow evening?” Vir asked, rather hopefully.

“That sounds very good,” Lennier said.

And Vir couldn’t help but agree.


End file.
